Rain of Fire
by Hawkflight7
Summary: She sat quietly on the train between her brothers and sister, trying to figure out who the man she saw in the flames was.


**Rain of Fire**

**Summary: She sat quietly on the train between her brothers and sister, trying to figure out who the man she saw in the flames was.**

**Here's a one-shot for the odd little coupling of Susan/Maugrim.**

_A white star weaved back and forth through the air as it fell from the night sky. There were little imperfections within it, where she could see through to the thick coat of shadow all around her. Slices of black that curled like a wave just about to crash against a beach. A shallow orb in the middle, translucent._

_The star fell into the darkness, a single speck of white that was soon swallowed whole. More snowflakes followed after it, floating down from the sky faster and faster until the shadows were covered by a blanket of snow._

_Thin grey slates of wood rose up from the snow, growing taller until they touched the sky, branches extended outward to grasp at the stars in the sky. A cloak of white soon wrapped around the trees._

_It was only afterward that the snow stopped falling, dark lumps on the ground topped in a sheen of ice. _

_Beyond, in the dark of the forest twin orbs of amber appeared flickering between the trees, always stopping to focus on her before continuing on some path she couldn't see. The creature slithered around the stone, disappearing between them into the dark crevices below._

_A gold sheen flickered along the stone, lighting the crevices in brief slashes so she could see the tunnel that went down. Her gaze followed the phantom of light to a glow on the horizon._

_It grew brighter as she watched; a red tongue lashing against the trees and making them send up sparks into the branches that were quick to catch fire. The flames made no sound as they crawled across the snow, carving a path through the landscape with the trees so it looked like a beast's clawed hand was reaching out to her, getting closer with each passing second until she could feel the heat along her skin..._

Susan's eyes sprung open and for a moment she thought she was still dreaming as her skin was warm, body unnaturally hot beneath the sheets. Then there was the flicker of red, orange, and yellow sparks racing along the wall, moving down like vines to cover her dresser that was aflame. The roar of the fire raged through her ears, smoke curling up from it's maw to spin and twist maddeningly on the ceiling, the gray curtain steadily getting lower.

She opened her mouth and coughed as the smoke clawed into her lungs, searching for more oxygen to spur the fire on. Susan clasped a hand over her mouth as she breathed in through her nose. It singed from the smoke and she had to fight back the urge to sneeze.

Her gaze moved quickly around the room as she scrambled out from under the blankets, crawling over the covers to the foot of the bed to press her feet against the wood panels of the floor. The entirety of the room seemed to be in flames, and the bed she had previously been on went up quickly when the fire jumped from the nightstand to the duvet. Outside the window she could see more flames licking along the glass, and the door... the vines of fire arced over it as the wood creaked.

_"Susan."_ She blinked at the sound of her name from outside the door and had to squint her eyes to see a wavering form in the smoke, though it was undoubtedly male the person was too tall to be either of her brothers. _"Come out from there, Susan."_ His voice was deeper as well, rougher. _"Move or burn."_

Those words brought her back to action as she sprinted forward toward the figure, closing her eyes momentarily when she passed under the doorway. When she opened them again whoever had been there was gone as she almost ran into the wall and came to a halt just inches from the wall. What...

"Mommy!"

Susan turned quickly on her feet, looking down the hallway. "Lucy?" Was her room on fire as well? Dear God... She took off at a sprint, throwing open the first door to her left and calling out her sister's name as she stepped inside coughing afterward from the thick smoke in the air. Through it she could make out her sister's form on the bed, curled beneath the sheets. At least the fire hadn't quite reached this room yet. "Lucy, come on!" She reached through the gray haze to grab the young girl's arm and drag her up and out of the bed before turning back into the hall.

For the few seconds she was in the other room it seemed to have gotten a million times worse out here. She coughed, her whole body shaking with the motion, fingers parting from the continuous burn in her lungs, wanting nothing more than fresh clean air._ "Get down, Susan."_

She leaned over, her vision clearing as her head went lower and she allowed her hand to fall from her mouth, gasping at the oxygen towards the bottom half of the hall. There was still remnants of smoke in it but it didn't burn her throat when she swallowed it down. "Susan?" She glanced to Lucy who was looking at her with wide eyes, gripping her hand hard. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Lucy," she assured her, not wanting to frighten her. Though she had to wonder why her sister made no comment on the man that had spoken just a moment ago. Where was he for that matter?

Susan glanced along the hall until she saw a pair of boots hitting the floor at the far end, going down the stairs. "Wait," she gasped out, pulling Lucy along with her.

_"Hurry, pet."_

She tightened her grip on Lucy's hand as she walked faster, somewhat hunched over so she wasn't breathing pure smoke. Susan ignored the tears streaming from her eyes as she felt the heat of the fire behind her, pulling Lucy forward to the stairs ahead of her and telling her to run down quickly, to hold her breath for as long as she could and get to mother and their brothers.

As she watched Lucy disappear down the staircase she followed more slowly, her body racked with coughs as she made her way down. She had swallowed a lot of that smoke. _"Keep your head down."_

Susan blinked, leaning over the banister to try and see where the man was but she saw nothing but clouds of smoke. "Who are you?" she asked, coughing as she stepped off the last raised stair.

_"Move."_ She felt a pair of hands on her back, pushing her forward towards the kitchen, towards the back door.

Susan could hear her mother screaming beyond there, out in the yard. "Come on, quickly!" She pressed her feet hard against the floor, pushing off into a jog. "Run!" Susan stumbled into the kitchen, using her hands to push off against the cabinets, counter-tops, whatever would help her propel herself forward and out the door into the warm air of the night.

The sound of sirens, screaming, bombs dropping from above, assaulted her ears all at once and for a moment she stood still, blinking to clear her vision that soon found the open bomb shelter in the backyard. "Susan!" Her mother was standing in the opening, arm up against the hatch.

She hurried over, running down the steps to collapse in a heap at the bottom of the stairs as she heard the hatch close with a bang behind her. Along with one last whisper at her ear before her vision went black, _"You'll be fine, Susan."_


End file.
